U20 World Junior Championships - As the Russian roster is finalized, a couple of interesting notes have leaked through from our observers. First, the 89 born Alexey Cherepanov, who was supposed to play a depth role on the Russian squad, has been skating on the top line throughout the preparations, with either Ilya Zubov (Ottawa Senators) or Gennadi Churilov (undrafted) centering the second line, and Anisimov the third. The third unit has consistently been Alexander Vasyunov (New Jersey Devils), Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers) and Igor Makarov (Chicago Blackhawks). Kiryukhin centered Russia’s fifth line that was released. The young forward, who captained the squad that competed at the Canada Russia Challenge was retained as a

Draft Rankings and Comments:

2006 NHL ENTRY DRAFTRank 2: #19 Ranking Comments:Dmitri Zyuzin has not met the hefty expectations put on him after a strong 2004-05 season and a solid 2005-06 preseason. He struggled throughout the season and has been unable to develop into a reliable and stable Super League forward. He has remained at the forefront of the U20 national team list largely due to the squad's head coach Mikhalev also being the head coach of Zyuzin's club, Salavat Yulayev. Rank 3: #29